Pagina 682 di 1118

They entered at last into the valley. In what a situation was now

our poor Don Abbondio! to find himself in this famous valley, of

which he had heard such black and horrible tales. These famous

men, the flower of the bravoes of Italy, these men without pity

or fear, to see them in flesh and blood,-to meet them at every

step! They bowed, it is true, respectfully, in the presence of

their lord, but who knows what passed in their hearts, and what

wicked design against the poor priest might, even then, be

forming in their brains.